MARCHING  ACROSS  CAROLINA 


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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

ENDOWED  BY 

JOHN  SPRUNT  HILL 

CLASS  OF  1889 


Cp970.75 
F69m 


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Jparfhmjj  %xxm  d^rfllira. 


obert  Clarke  &  Co 


fAapctyn^  ?k  flkpo^  x  Capolina 


READ  BEFORE  THE 


Ohio  Commandery  of  the  Loyal  Legion 


MAY   2D,  1883 


M.    F.    FORCE 


CINCINNATI 

Eobert  Clarke  &  Co.,  Printers 

1883 


— 


CINCINNA'J* 


— 


MARCHING  ACROSS  CAROLINA. 


The  commander,  in  assigning  to  me  the  duty  of  prepar- 
ing a  paper  for  this  evening,  said :  "We  want  personal 
reminiscences  ;  we  want  each  man  who  writes  to  tell  what 
he  himself  saw,  and  to  use  the  pronoun  I  freely.''" 

I  marched  across  the  Carolinas,  commanding  the  Third 
Division,  Seventeenth  Corps  (General  Leggett  having  been 
sent  home  from  Pocotaligo  by  the  surgeons,  too  ill  to  go 
on),  and  can  tell  somewhat  about  that.  The  two  striking 
features  of  the  campaign  were,  the  way  the  army  marched 
and  the  way  it  was  supplied.  I  will  not  attempt  to  give  a 
narrative  of  the  campaign,  but  only  some  notes  of  marching 
and  foraging. 

Though  there  was  not  much  fighting  in  the  campaign, 
General  Sherman  considered  it  in  some  respects  his  most 
notable  achievement.  He  told  me  that  General  Joseph 
Johnston  had  said  to  him,  "  My  engineer  officers  all  re- 
ported that  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for  an  arrnj'  to 
march  across  the  lower  portions  of  the  state  in  winter,  and 
I  took  it  for  granted  that  you  would  not  attempt  to  ad- 
vance, unless  across  the  upper  hill  section  of  the  state." 

The  soil  melts  away  under  rain.  Even  where  the  sur- 
face looks  firm  and  solid,  as  in  a  forest,  wagon-wheels 
would  sometimes  break  through  and  sink  to  the  hubs.  The 
sluggish  rivers,  swollen  with  winter  rains,  spread  far  beyond 
their  borders,  branching  into  several,  sometimes  into  a 
dozen  channels,  creeping  through  a  wide  belt  of  swamp. 

Instead  of  finding  streams  with  well  defined,  solid  banks, 
we  came  upon  tangled  swamps,  miles  across,  dense  with 

3 


trees,  vines  and  thickets,  and  meandering  through  them 
the  many  channels  of  icy  water.  The  regular  crossing  over 
them  is  by  roads,  at  long  intervals,  built  through  the  swamp 
on  a  raised  causeway,  with  bridges  over  the  streams.  As 
every  crossing  was  defended  by  batteries  which  swept  it, 
advance  over  the  causeway  was  impossible.  Sometimes  a 
place  above  or  below  could  be  found  where  the  streams 
were  all  fordable,  and  the  troops  could  wade  through  them 
as  well  as  the  swamp.  Sometimes  the  men  waded  the' 
swamp  and  bridged  the  streams.  Sometimes  we  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  find  a  place  where  all  the  streams  united 
in  one  channel,. with  a  firm  bank  on  our  side  and  swamp 
beyond.  There  we  could  lay  pontoons  and  cross.  Always, 
to  the  very  last,  we  crossed  unobserved,  and  the  enemy, 
surprised  to  see  a  line  of  battle  emerge  from  the  woods  on 
their  flank,  abandoned  their  works  precipitately  and  fell 
hack  behind  the  next  river.  We  would  rebuild  the  burned 
bridges,  move  the  trains  over  the  regular  road,  and  pursue. 
Pursuit,  though  steady  and  unremitting,  could  not  be 
swift.  The  four  army  corps  had  together  2,000  wagons  in 
their  trains,  and  batteries  and  ambulances  equal  to  500 
more.  These,  on  good  roads,  would  take  up  twenty-five 
miles.  It  was  necessary,  and  it  was  the  practice,  for  each 
corps  to  march  upon  a  separate  road.  Even  500  wagons, 
with  batteries  and  ambulances,  struggling  through  a  quag- 
mire, will  stretch  out  over  the  length  of  a  day's  march.  To 
still  shorten  each  corps  columu,  roads  were  reserved  exclus- 
ively for  wheels,  troops  marched  along  side,  but  outside,  of 
the  road.  It  rained  most  of  the  time,  day  and  night.  The  soft 
soil  was  cut  and  churned  by  the  trains  till  the  wagon  beds 
would  rest  on  the  surface,  finding  no  support  from  the 
buried  wheels ;  even  the  mules  became  discouraged.  We 
had  to  build  roads  to  travel  over.  Every  division  had  a  reg- 
ularly organized  pioneer  corps,  which  toiled  all  day  build- 
ing road  and  bridges.  Every  brigade  had  au  organized 
pioneer  party  to  clear  a  way  for  the  troops  and  help  at 


times  in  repairing  the  road.  Parties  were  detailed  every 
day  to  lift  wagons  up  out  of  the  mud,  when  the  teams 
could  not  pull  them  through.  Sometimes  a  regiment,  some- 
times a  brigade,  was  turned  into  a  pioneer  detail  to  aid  in 
building  road  and  causeway. 

With  all  this  toil,  the  column  was  late  in  getting  into 
camp.  Often  it  was  on  the  road  all  night,  and  the  rear 
would  arrive  in  the  morning  to  see  the  front  moving  off 
on  the  next  day's  march.  To  insure  the  posting  of  the 
camp  picket  guard,  and  allow  the  men  to  go  to  sleep  at 
once  on  reaching  camp  undisturbed  by  apprehension  of  de- 
tail, I  had  the  picket  for  the  coming  night  detailed  to  re- 
port every  morning  before  leaving  camp.  The  detail  of 
each  brigade  marched  at  the  head  of  the  brigade,  served  as 
advance  party  and  skirmishers  through  the  day;  and,  in 
the  afternoon,  when  word  came  for  the  proper  staff  officers 
to  report  to  the  corps  officers  at  the  head  of  the  column,  to 
ride  foi'ward  and  lay  out  the  ground  for  camp,  the  picket 
details  were  detached,  moved  forward,  passing  the  col- 
umn, and  reached  the  camp  ground  in  time  to  be  posted  by 
daylight. 

While  wagon  roads  were  repaired,  railroads  were  de- 
stroyed. It  had  been  found  in  Georgia  that  rails  merely 
bent  could  be  straightened  in  rolling  mills.  Hence,  in 
Carolina,  General  Sherman  required  every  rail  to  be  spi- 
rally twisted. 

There  was  an  engineer  regiment  provided  with  imple- 
ments for  the  purpose.  Other  troops  would  bind  a  railroad 
chair  to  the  end  of  a  telegraph  pole,  with  telegraph  wire. 
When  a  rail  was  softened  with  heat,  one  such  chair  was 
clamped  to  each  end  of  the  rail;  and  parties, pulling  at  the 
poles  as  levers  in  opposite  directions,  twisted  the  rails  to  the 
semblance  of  great  sticks  of  taffy.  One  day,  a  detachment 
— regiment  or  brigade — shirked  this  work,  simply  bending 
the  rails  in  the  old  way.  When  this  was  discovered,  they 
were  sent  back  to  do  the  work  over  again.     The  railroad 


ties  being  already  burned,  and  the  cooled  rails  bent  into 
chaotic  shapes,  this  task  was  much  more  difficult  than  it 
had  been  in  the  beginning. 

Perhaps  a  few  details  will  aid  this  general  statement. 
On  the  5th  of  January  the  First  Brigade  of  the  Third  Di- 
vision, then  encamped  outside  of  Savannah,  received  unex- 
pectedly an  order  at  2J  p.  m.  to  march  -to  Thunderbolt  and 
take  transports  for  Port  lioyal  Island.  At  five  minutes 
before  3  camps  were  struck  and  troops  in  line,  awaiting  the 
order  to  march.  "We  reached  Beaufort,  and  marched  out 
of  town  and  bivouacked  by  the  shore.  As  no  baggage  was 
taken  along,  officers  had  no  shelter.  There  was  no  fire- 
wood. A  chill  wind  from  the  ocean  reached  our  very  mar- 
row. When  night  came  my  servant  found  a  hole  in  the 
ground,  like  a  shallow  grave.  Hungry  and  cold,  I  was  glad 
to  find  in  this  hole  a  bed  sheltered  from  the  wind ;  but  be- 
fore morning  I  awoke  to  find  a  rain  had  come  on,  and  1  was 
wallowing  in  water. 

On  the  6th,  the  entire  division  being  in  bivouac  with- 
out wagons,  order  to  move  was  received  at  2  p.  M.,  and  in 
fifteen  minutes  both  brigades  were  packed,  formed  and 
moving. 

The  Seventeenth  Corps  moved  to  the  main  land  by 
pontoons  and  pushed  out  to  Pocotaligo,  skirmishing  on  the 
wray  and  pushing  the  enemy  out  of  the  massive  entrench- 
ments and  redoubts  that  blocked  the  road  in  places.  Here 
the  Seventeenth  Corps  lay  till  the  30th  of  January,  filling 
trains,  receiving  recruits,  sending  home  the  sick,  etc.,  while 
the  other  three  corps,  near  the  Savannah  river,  were  strung 
on  dykes  or  huddled  on  knobs  of  earth,  amid  a  waste  of 
water,  waiting  for  land  to  become  visible. 

February  9th,  it  froze  all  day.  The  corps  reached  Bin- 
naker's  Bridge  over  the  South  Fork  of  the  Edisto,  to  find 
it  burned  and  the  crossing  defended  by  earthworks.  Mow- 
er's division  being  in  front,  crossed  below  in  boats  and  found 
the  farther  side  of  the  river  was  an  extensive  swamp,  where 


the  water  was  waist  deep.  The  Third  Division  arrived  and 
went  into  camp  a  little  before  midnight.  While  the  men 
were  cooking  supper,  order  came  to  me  to  go  to  the  support 
of  Mower.  Coffee  was  poured  out  of  the  tins  and  the  col- 
umn was  in  march  in  a  few  minutes.  Near  the  river  I  met 
General  Mower  returning  in  person  to  report.  His  frozen 
overcoat  crackled  as  he  rode.  He  had  marched  half  a  mile 
through  the  swamp  to  firm  land,  and  the  lines  of  steel 
gleaming  in  the  moonlight,  as  they  emerged  from  the  forest, 
was  the  first  warning  to  the  enemy  that  their  position  was 
turned. 

On  the  23d  of  February,  the  Third  Division,  forming 
rear  of  the  corps,  came  to  halt  two  miles  from  the  Wateree. 
The  river  was  so  swollen  from  the  rains  that  the  pontoons 
of  a  single  corps  could  not  bridge  it.  The  Fifteenth  Corps 
joined  its  pontoons  to  those  of  the  Seventeenth  and  crossed 
over  first.  Rains  came  on,  when  I  halted.  I  had  to  keep 
the  division  deployed  as  rear  guard  to  cover  the  crossing 
.against  possible  attack. 

The  pontoon  bridge  became  slippery  with  accumulating 
mud.  The  column  of  troops  and  trains  kept  passing  on.  I 
kept  on  contracting  my  line  nearer  to  the  river,  till,  at  11 
p.  M.,  the  Third  Division  began  to  cross.  A  wagon  slipped 
off  the  bridge,  broke  a  boat,  and  made  a  delay  of  two 
hours.  At  4:30  a.  m.  I  rode  over  and  floundered  one  or  two 
miles  through  the  mud  to  where  the  flies  of  Division  Head- 
quarters (no  tents  were  allowed  on  the  march)  were  pitched. 
It  was  daylight.  Cramped  with  sitting  in  the  saddle  nearly 
twenty-four  hours,  most  of  the  time  in  rain,  I  dismounted, 
roused  the  pioneers,  and  sent  them  forward  to  repair  the 
road,  and  dozed  in  a  chair  while  breakfast  was  making. 
The  rear  of  the  division  was  over  by  9  a.  m.;  the  bridge 
taken  up  by  11  a.  m. 

Being  charged  with  the  safety  of  the  pontoon  train,  I 
went  into  camp  at  night,  eight  miles  in  the  rear  of  the  rest 
of  the  corps,  and  the  pontoon  train  camped  three  miles  in 


8 

my  rear.  It  rained  all  night  and  all  next  day.  The  coun- 
try was  swimming  with  water.  Brooks  had  become  tor- 
rents scarcely  fordable.  The  road  floated  off  wood  laid  on 
it  for  corduroy.  The  entire  Second  Brigade  was  turned 
into  a  pioneer  party  to  build  a  new  road,  and  the  First 
Brigade  to  lift  wagons  out  of  the  mud.  Four  solid  miles 
of  corduroy  were  laid,  and  after  a  march  of  twelve  miles  I 
crossed  Flatrock  creek,  and  went  into  camp  ten  miles  in  the 
rear  of  the  rest  of  the  corps,  and  sent  back  two  regiments 
to  guard  the  pontoon  train,  which  had  to  halt  Ave  miles  in 
my  rear. 

It  rained  all  night;  but,  favored  next  day  with  good 
road  aud  good  weather,  we  came  upon  the  rear  of  the  other 
divisions  of  the  corps  in  the  afternoon.  They  had  been  all 
day  getting  their  traius  over  Little  Lynch's  creek,  at 
Hough's  bridge.  The  creek  had  spread  far  beyond  its 
banks.  The  bridge  stood  apparently  in  the  middle  of  a 
lake.  Great  care  was  required  to  move  over  the  submerged 
road  and  strike  the  bridge.  The  trains  in  front  were  out 
of  my  way  by  6  p.  m.  The  water  was  subsiding,  but  it  was 
not  safe  to  urge  the  trains,  in  the  blackness  of  the  night, 
one  hundred  aud  fifty  yards  through  the  water  to  strike  the 
bridge  over  a  roaring  torrent.  The  night  was  spent  in 
building  a  causeway  out  to  the  bridge,  and  before  daylight 
the  march  was  resumed. 

JSText  day  at  2  p.  m.  we  overtook  the  other  division  at 
Young's  bridge,  over  Lynch's  creek.  Here  was  such  an 
overflow  that  1,500  officers  and  men,  so  it  was  reported  to 
me  at  the  time,  spent  the  day  in  the  water,  building  one  and 
a  half  mile  of  causeway  aud  bridges  over  the  overflowed 
land.  I  started  my  trains  over  this  bridge  at  11  p.  m.  and 
moved  the  troops  across  next  morning  at  6:30  a.  m.  On  the 
8th  of  March  the  Third  Division  was  the  head  of  the  col- 
umn, and  marched  seventeen  miles,  and  was  quick  enough 
to  save  Campbell's  bridge,  over  Lumber  river,  which  tbe 
enemy  tried  to  destroy.     The   entries  in  my  diary  are: 


"Kainecl  all  day.  Road  through  swamps  half  the  way. 
Worst  marching  for  troops  I  ever  saw ;  had  to  wade  much 
of  the  time,  aud  scramble  through  wet  trees  nearly  all  the 
time,  and  tread  narrow  passages  mixed  with  wagons." 

On  the  9th  the  division  marched  twelve  miles,  crossing 
Long  swamp,  Richland  creek,  Mill  swamp  and  Raft  swamp. 
Began  to  rain  at  2  p.  m.  and  poured  till  in  the  night. 

The  head  of  the  division  reached  camp  at  4  p.  M.;  the 
rear  of  the  train  got  in  at  2:30  next  morning.  "By  that 
time,"  says  my  journal,  "the  roads  were  running  and  the 
corduroy  laid,  all  floating.  Men  had  to  wade  up  to  their 
hips  and  waists." 

On  the  15th  it  was  again  the  turn  of  the  Third  Divis- 
ion to  be  in  front.  On  the  preceding  night  I  obtained  Gen- 
eral Blair's  permission  to  send  all  the  division  but  two  regi- 
ments forward,  passing  by  the  train  of  the  division  in  front 
of  me,  so  that  they  reached  camp  by  11  p.  M.  I  brought 
those  two  regiments  forward  to  the  head  of  my  train,  with 
which  they  reached  camp  at  1  A.  M.  Finding  the  greater 
part  of  the  train  in  at  2:30  a.  m.,  I  went  to  bed.  The  rear, 
however,  came  into  camp  just  as  I  was  moving  out  in  the 
morning. 

I  read  from  my  journal  of  the  15th  and  16th  of  March 
— 15th:  "Thunder-storm  at  noon  ;  killed  one  and  severely 
injured  two  men  of  the  Seventy-eighth  Ohio  in  an  open 
field.  Rained  after  that  all  day  and  all  night.  Soil  melted 
like  sugar.  Laid  three  miles  of  corduroy ;  much  floated  off 
and  had  toberelaid;  men  had  to  staud  on  it  to  keep  it  in 
place;  wagons  kept  sticking;  men  toiled  terribly.  At  2 
A.  M.  a  detail  was  trying  at  a  wagon;  as  they  by  main 
strength  lifted  it  up  the  mules  drew  it  away,  and  left  the 
two  rows  of  men  pressed  down,  sticking  in  the  mud.  They 
shouted, '  Send  a  detail  to  pull  these  mules  out.'  I  came  to 
camp  at  3  A.  M.  to  go  to  bed.  None  of  the  Second  Brigade 
in  yet.  Sixteenth  :  At  5  a.  m.  sent  two  regiments  that  had 
had  some  sleep  to  the  help  of  the  Second  Brigade,  still 


10 

struggling  with  their  section  of  the  train  ;  the  ranles  all  dis- 
pirited ;  all  in  by  9  a.  m.  Sent  the  Twelfth  "Wisconsin  to 
help  pontoon  train  over  South  river.  Fourth  Division 
worked  all  night  building  a  bridge  over  South  river.  It 
rained  all  day.  'Crossed  the  bridge  at  7p.m.  The  country 
was  one  sheet  of  water ;  the  road  a  canal.  Marched  six  miles, 
crossed  a  bridge  not  burned,  and  went  into  camp.  Went 
to  bed  at  3  a.  m.  Half  the  rear  section  of  the  train,  guarded 
by  the  First  Brigade,  was  not  yet  in.  This  night  I  slept 
in  a  house.  Seventeenth  :  The  Twelfth  Wisconsin  brought 
in  the  rear  of  the  train  at  6  a.  m.,  and  moved  at  7  a.  m." 

Ou  the  18th  the  day  was  fine  and  the  first  part  of  the 
road  good.  The  last  half  of  the  road  had  to  be  corduroyed 
almost  without  a  break.  Fortunately  the  pioneer  battalion 
of  the  army  happened  to  be  with  the  Seventeenth  Corps, 
and  the  entire  battalion,  five  hundred  men,  with  fit  tools, 
was  set  to  work  to  aid  the  division  and  brigade  pioneers. 
Then  regiments  were  detailed  till  five  regiments  were  at 
work.  This  happy  day  the  entire  division  was  in  camp  by 
sunset ;  a  camp  in  clean,  fine  woods,  with  streams  of  water 
in  front  and  forage  at  hand.  This  happy  day  I  issued  in 
the  morning  an  entire  day's  ration  of  hard  bread. 

On  this  march,  432  miles,  ending  at  Goldsboro,  and 
made  in  fifty-four  days,  the  Third  Division,  according  to 
report  of  the  Division  Engineer,  constructed  15  miles  and 
1,353  yards  corduroy  road  for  wagons  ;  122  miles  627  yards 
of  side  road  for  troops;  303  yards  of  small  bridges  where 
pontoons  could  not  be  used ;  1  mile  and  520  yards  of  in- 
fantry intrenchment ;  one  battery  for  2  guns,  another  for 
3  guns ;  and  destroyed  14  miles  800  yards  of  railway,  heat- 
ing and  twisting  spirally  every  rail.  Wading  and  pushing 
through  thickets,  night  and  day,  wore  out  the  shoes,  tore 
away  clothing,  and  carried  off  hats.  On  the  19th  of  March, 
wagons  left  behind  at  Fayetteville  for  supplies  expected  up 
the  river,  overtook  us.  That  day  I  issued  to  the  division  494 
pairs  of  shoes,  yet  172  men  were  still  left  entirely  barefoot. 


11 

When  we  approached  Goldsboro,  General  Sherman 
sent  word  out  to  move  wagons  out  of  the  road,  close  up 
the  troops,  and  pass  in  column  before  him.  General  Scho- 
field,  I  think,  also  General  Cox,  stood  with  General  Sherman 
and  General  Blair  as  the  Seventeenth  Corps  passed.  The 
men  were  in  motley  garb — bare  feet,  bare  legs,  tattered  coats, 
felt  hats,  beavers,  straw  hats — every  known  style  of  head 
covering  was  seen.  But  they  marched  buoyantly,  with 
precise  ranks,  and  elastic  tread.  General  Blair  said  :  "  See 
those  poor  fellows  with  bare  legs."  General  Sherman  said  : 
"Splendid  legs!  splendid  legs!  I  would  give  both  mine 
for  any  one  of  them  !  " 

Foraging '  was  a  vital  necessity  in  this  campaign. 
The  foragers,  called  "  Sherman's  Bummers,"  performed 
a  service  without  which  the  army  could  not  have  ad- 
vanced. The  march  from  Pocotaligo  to  Goldsboro  took 
fifty-four  days.  The  Third  Division  had,  at  starting, 
in  wagons  and  haversacks,  twenty-five  days'  rations  of 
hard  bread,  thirty  days  of  coffee,  and  some  sugar  and 
salt.  Wagous  and  haversacks  together  could  carry  no 
more.  Not  a  pound  of  meat  was  carried  in  the  wagons. 
Some  cattle  were  taken  along  on  the  hoof,  but  their  meat 
was  poor  sustenance.  I  believe  every  other  division  took 
some  cured  meat  in  their  trains.  But  my  train  was  a  small 
one,  and  I  preferred  to  take  all  the  hard  bread  and  coffee 
possible,  trusting  to  the  country  for  meat.  In  my  diary  I 
find  an  entry  6th  February  :  "  Men  to-day  carry  ten  clays' 
rations  on  their  persons,  i.e.,  all  they  will  get  for  ten  days, 
except  what  they  forage."  These  ten  days'  rations  con- 
sisted of  three  days'  hard  bread  and  a  larger  proportion  of 
coffee  and  sugar,  with  notice  that  no  more  would  be  issued 
for  ten  days. 

Napoleon  discusses  the  relative  merits  of  drawing 
subsistence  from  the  country  by  requisition  and  draw- 
ing it  by  direct  seizure.  In  the  thickly  inhabited  countries 
of  Europe,  where  the  roads  are  studded  with  cities,  requi- 


12 

sition  is  practicable  and  preferable.  But  in  a  sparsely  set- 
tled region,  where  towns  are  few  and  small  and  scantily 
supplied,  and  provisions  are  mainly  found  on  scattered 
plantations,  there  is  no  alternative  :  there  is  no  means  of 
obtaining  subsistence  but  by  direct  seizure.  In  the  Third 
Division  the  forage  detail  for  each  regiment  consisted  of 
one  officer  and  about  a  dozen  enlisted  men;  the  number  of 
enlisted  men  varying  with  the  size  of  the  regiment.  In 
the  morning  every  detail  reported  to  the  Provost  Marshal 
of  the  division  before  leaving  camp.  They  went  in  advance 
of  the  column  and  scoured  the  country  ten  miles  out  from 
the  flanks;  often  went  farther  out.  Visiting  plantations, 
they  gathered  supplies,  and  when  necessary  captured  wag- 
ons to  bring  supplies  into  camp.  At  first  they  went  out  on 
foot,  but  before  long  they  were  all  mounted.  They  ac- 
quired experience  which  seemed  like  instinct  in  finding 
their  way  about  the  country,  and  to  the  ground  selected  for 
the  night  camp.  Arriving  at  the  camp-ground,  sometimes 
being  the  first  on  the  ground,  they  observed  the  corps  staA' 
allot  ground  to  each  division,  and  then  the  division  officers 
allot  ground  to  each  brigade.  The  ground  for  each  brigade 
being  designated,  they  knew  where  each  regiment  would 
bivouac.  At  once  every  party  would  repair  to  the  ground 
where  its  regiment  on  arrival  would  camp,  and  the  troops 
coming  in  through  the  night  would  find,  not  only  pickets 
posted,  but  camp-fires  burning  and  bacon,  sweet  potatoes, 
and  corn  meal,  read}'  for  them.  Sometimes  a  party  would 
find  a  grist  mill,  and  instead  of  going  to  camp  would  set 
to  work  grinding  meal  and  send  to  camp  for  wagons,  and 
would  spend  the  night  grinding  if  the  supply  of  corn  held 
out.  It  was  a  common  practice  with  planters  to  bury  their 
provisions  and  hide  their  stock  in  the  swamps,  for  both  ar- 
mies, National  and  Confederate,  foraged  alike.  But  the 
men  soon  gained  a  wonderful  facility  in  discovering  the 
hidden  stores.  From  the  general  appearance  of  the  barns 
and  smoke-houses  they  quickly  and  unerringly  made  up 


13 

their  minds  where  something  was  hidden.  By  indica- 
tions which  themselves  would  find  it  hard  to  explain,  they 
determined  the  general  locality  where  the  cache  was  made. 
Advancing  in  line  in  open  order,  driving  their  ramrods  into 
the  ground,  a  few  minutes  would  reveal  the  hidden  stores. 
A  negro  one  day  said  to  General  Leggett,  in  Georgia : 
"  Dese  Yankee  soldiers  have  noses  like  hounds.  Massa 
hid  all  his  horses  way  out  dar  in  de  swamp.  Some  soldiers 
come  along.  All  at  once  dey  held  up  dere  noses  and  sniffed 
and  sniffed,  and  stopped  still  and  sniffed,  and  turned  into 
de  swamp  and  held  up  dere  noses  and  sniffed,  and,  Lord  a' 
Massy,  went  right  straight  to  where  de  horses  was  tied  in 
de  swamp."  One  day  a  sergeant  went  into  a  country  house. 
The  planter  and  his  wife  were  there.  After  a  little  talk  the 
sergeant,  with  great  solemnity,  asked  :  "  Has  any  one  died 
here  lately?"  The  planter  quickly  said:  "No,  nobody." 
The  sergeant  gravely  said  :  "I  thought  somebody  had  died 
here."  The  planter  said  :  "  No,  sir."  His  wife  said  :  "  Oh, 
yes;  don't  you  remember,  my  dear,  don't  you  remember 
that  colored  boy  that  was  huried  yesterday."  The  planter 
added:  "Ah,  yes;  there  was  a  colored  boy  buried  yester- 
day." The  sergeant,  with  increased  solemnity,  said:  "I 
only  wanted  to  let  you  know  that  I  have  opened  that  grave 
and  taken  out  the  corpse."  There  was  loud  expostulations 
then,  for  this  corpse,  so-called,  was  the  plantation  supply  of 
ham.  At  Goldsboro,  General  Blair  required  a  report  of 
captured  stores.  As  no  account  had  been  kept,  the  reports 
could  be  only  a  rough  estimate.  The  report  of  the  Third 
Division  was: 

SUBSISTENCE     OBTAINED. 

Sweet  potatoes,  lbs 60,000 

Corn  meal,  lbs 100,000 

Cured  meat,  lbs 200,000 

Molasses,  galls 150 

Sugar,  b bis 8 


14 

Salt,  bbls 15 

Coffee,  bbls 1 

Corn,  bush ,       7,000 

EXPENDED. 

Issued  to  stock — 

Salt,  bbls 10 

Coru,  busb 7,000 

Issued  to  refugees  and  indigent  citizens — 

Corn  meal,  lbs 5,000 

Cured  meat 1,000 

The  rest  of  the  above  was  issued  to  the  troops. 

OTHER   CAPTURED    SUPPLIES. 

Horses 350 

Mules 230 

Killed— 

Horses 180 

Mules 130 

Issued  and  turned  over — 

Horses 170 

Mules 100 

Also,  LOO  wagons  and  other  vehicles  were  captured,  all 
of  which  were  turned  over  or  destroyed.  At  Fayetteville 
the  foragers  captured  a  steamboat  which  was  of  utmost 
value,  being  sent  down  the  river  with  dispatches  and  sick 
meu. 

Gathering  subsistence  was  not  the  only  service  ren- 
dered by  the  foragers.  They  enveloped  the  marching  col- 
umn with  a  wide-spread  cloud  of  skirmishers,  which  the 
enemy  could  not  push  through.  They  were  thoroughly 
imbued  with  confidence  in  the  invincibility  of  Sherman's 
army.  When  a  squad  came  upon  hostile  cavalry,  in  what- 
ever numbers,  and  at  whatever  distance  from  the  army,  it 
gave  fight.  Any  other  squad  within  hearing  of  the  firing 
hastened  to  take  part.  If  forced  back  they  retired  fightiug 
and  other  detachments  drawn  by  the  sound  swarmed  to 
the  rescue,  till  the  time  came,  always  sooner  or  later,  that 


15 

they  gathered  in  numbers  sufficient  to  drive  back  in 
turn  any  cavalry  that  they  encountered.  Sometimes  these 
enterprising  Uhlans,  dashing  on  in  advance,  seized  an  im- 
portant point  and  held  it  till  the  head  of  the  column  ap- 
proached. General  Sherman  told  me  that  General  John- 
ston said  to  him:  ."Your  foragers  were  the  most  efficient 
cavalry  ever  known.  They  covered  your  flanks  so  com- 
pletely that  I  never  could  penetrate  through  them  far 
enough  to  feel  your  column.  And  the  fact  that  they  could 
be  sent  so  far  off  from  the  eyes  of  the  commanding  of- 
ficers and  return  regularly  at  night,  is  proof  of  the  highest 
state  of  discipline  of  your  army."  When  the  army  reached 
Goldsboro  and  went  into  camp  to  refit,  the  function  of  the 
foragers  ceased.  They  surrendered  their  horses  to  the  Pro- 
vost Marshals,  returned  to  their  regular  duty  in  the  ranks, 
and  were  seen  no  more. 

The  march  across  South  Carolina  was  devastating. 
There  was  much  burning  and  destruction;  and  there  was 
pillage,  undoubtedly,  of  small,  portable  articles.  But  sol- 
diers who  were  so  exact  about  their  burden  that  they  cut 
off  and  threw  away  every  unnecessary  inch  of  blanket  in 
order  to  save  the  weight,  would  not  encumber  themselves 
with  plunder.  At  a  place  where  we  halted  for  a  day, 
just  after  leaving  South  Carolina,  the  Provost  Marshals  of 
the  Seventeenth  Corps,  without  warning,  inspected  the 
camps,  searching  men  and  knapsacks  to  find  stolen  articles. 
The  result  of  the  raid  was  a  little  clothing  and  some  tobacco. 
Even  in  South  Carolina  I  never  heard  of  any  case  of  per- 
sonal abuse.  The  people  said  both  armies,  the  National 
and  the  Confederate,  were  alike  in  taking  their  property; 
that  the  difference  was  we  also  burned  their  houses,  while 
their  own  soldiers  abused  and  insulted  them. 

When  we  crossed  the  boundary  line  into  North  Caro- 
lina, destruction  ceased.  Not  a  house  was  burned,  and  the 
army  gave  to  the  people  more  than  it  took  from  them.  On 
the  march  from  Raleigh  to  Washington,  after  the  surren- 


16 

der  of  Lee  and  Johnston,  not  a  man  strayed  from  the  ranks, 
not.  so  much  as  a  chicken  was  taken,  not  a  fence-rail  was 
burned. 

The  character  of  the  country  gave  some  features  to 
what  fighting  there  was  in  the  Carolina  campaign,  but  the 
marching  and  foraging  were  its  special  features.  I  will  not 
extend  this  paper  by  any  description  of  the  forcing  of  the 
passage  of  defended  rivers,  but  will  close  by  reading  from 
the  Charleston  Mercury,  of  the  14th  of  January,  1865,  a 
South  Carolinian's  account  of  depredations  by  Confederate 
troops,  and  a  letter  from  General  Charles  "Woods  to  me, 
about  the  burning  of  Columbia  : 

[From  Charleston  Mercury.] 

Lower  Three  Runs,     \ 

Barnwell  District,  S.  C,  December  31st.  J 

To  Bon.  J.  A.  Seddon,  Secretary  of  War,  Richmond,  Va.: 

I  can  not  forbear  appealing  to  you  in  behalf  of  the  pro- 
ducing population  of  the  etates  of  Georgia  and  South  Car- 
olina for  protection  against  the  destructive  lawlessness  of 
members  of  General  Wheeler's  command.  From  Augusta 
to  Hardeeville  the  road  is  now  strewn  wTith  corn  left  on  the 
ground  unconsumed.  Beeves  have  beeu  shot  down  iu  the 
fields,  one-quarter  taken  off  and  the  balance  left  for  buz- 
zards. Horses  are  stolen  out  of  wagons  on  the  road  and  by 
wholesale  out  of  stables  at  night. 

The  writer  saw  an  order  from  General  Wheeler  author- 
izing search  to  be  made  in  his  command  for  thirty-seven 
animals  stolen  from  Mr.  Fitzpatrick's  plantation  in  Twiggs 
county,  Georgia,  only  four  of  which  had  up  to  a  few  days 
ago  been  recovered.  Within  a  few  miles  of  this  neighbor- 
hood Wheeler's  men  tried  to  rob  a  young  lady  of  a  horse 
while  she  was  on  a  visit  to  a  neighbor's,  but  for  the  timely 
arrival  of  a  citizen  who  prevented  the  outrage  being  perpe- 
trated. It  is  uo  unusual  thing  to  see  these  men  ride  into 
camp  with  all  sorts  of  plunder.     Private  houses  are  visited, 


17 

carpets,  blankets  and  other  furniture  they  can    lay  their 
hands  on  are  taken  by  force,  in  the  presence  of  the  owners. 

Fort  Wallace,  Kan.,  June  17th,  1870. 
General  31.  F.  Force,  Cincinnati,  0.: 

Dear  General^— I  send  the  following  statement  rela- 
tive to  the  taking  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  as  requested.  The 
night  before  our  troops  entered  Columbia,  S.  C,  I  was  en- 
gaged throwing  Colonel  Charles  Stone's  brigade  of  Iowa 
troops  across  Broad  river  in  pontoou  boats.  The  last  men 
were  landed  just  after  daylight,  and  after  clearing  away  the 
rebel  pickets  that  lined  the  stream  near  where  the  pontoon 
bridge  was  laid,  this  brigade  pushed  forward  toward  Co-, 
lumbia  and  met  the  mayor  of  the  city  about  a  mile  from  the 
crossing,  who  turned  over  the  city  to  Colonel  Stone.  This 
brigade  pushed  on  into  the  city,  and,  finding  it  still  occu- 
pied by  Wade  Hampton's  rear  guard,  drove  them  from  the 
city  and  took  possession  ;  posting  guards  so  as  to  protect 
the  city  from  pillage.  I  entered  the  city  about  an  hour 
after  Colonel  Stone,  with  the  remainder  of  my  division,  and 
found  the  streets  piled  full  of  cotton,  many  of  the  piles  on 
tire.  This  cotton  was  .fired  by  Wade  Hampton's  men.  I 
led  the  remainder  of  my  division  through  the  city,  and  took 
position  in  a  north-east  direction,  just  outside  the  city 
limits. 

About  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  heavy  wind  storm 
came  up,  which  lasted  all  night,  and  about  8  o'clock  it  was 
reported  to  me  that  the  city  was  on  fire.  I  immediately  or- 
dered another  brigade  into  the  city  to  assist  in  putting  out 
the  fire,  but  without  effect  until  it  reached  State  House 
Square,  having  burned  the  greater  portion  of  the  city.  The 
fire  started  from  the  burning  piles  of  cotton  blown  by  the 
wind  upon  the  roofs'of  the  houses.  I  burned  the  next  day, 
after  the  wind  subsided,  twelve  hundred  bales  of  cotton, 
which  I  found  piled  in  the  streets  outside  of  the  burned 
district. 


18 

Not  having  access  to  my  papers,  I  can  not  make  this 
statement  so  full  as  I  could  wish.     I  will  make  you  a  full 
statement  of  the  affair  as  soon  as  lean  get  to  my  papers. 
I  am,  General,  yours  truly, 

Chas.  R.  Woods, 
Brevet  Major  General,  U.  S.  A. 


00032744601 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


